Generally, in the article acquisition game apparatus of this kind, the articles placed on the turntable are scooped up or caught with the arm or the like and the articles are dropped into the premium outlet so that the articles can be acquired from the premium outlet.
In order to give the chance of article acquisition to anyone equally and enable anyone to easily enjoy playing the game, a new game apparatus has been proposed by improvement of the above-mentioned game apparatus. In the new game apparatus, buckets in which the articles are accommodated beforehand are arranged above the main board respectively for the players, and the inclination of each bucket is changed according to a selected number of a roulette so that the articles are dropped from the bucket. For example, see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-144740.
Moreover, in order to allow the article to be scooped up certainly, a new game apparatus has been proposed. In the new game apparatus, the central part of the turntable is provided with a raised part in a generally conical shape, and the bucket is moved from the center of the turntable to the peripheral part thereof so that the article is scooped up with the bucket. For example, see Japanese Registered Utility Model No. 2599242.
The game apparatus of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-144740 mentioned above is useful in that the chance of article acquisition is given to any of persons who play the game for the first time. However, since the buckets are arranged respectively for all the players, each player chiefly concentrates on acquiring his own article with the bucket, and there is no competition of article acquisition arising between the player and other players. In the case of the above-mentioned game apparatus, it is difficult to create a deep interest in playing the game.
Moreover, when the articles in the bucket become empty, it is necessary for the player to ask the salesperson to replenish the bucket with new articles. During the replenishment work the player cannot play the game, and the burden on the salesperson's replenishment work is somewhat heavy. In addition, the number of articles and the kind of articles which can be obtained from the bucket are what have been replenished by the salesperson, and the player may have a forced feeling. In the case of the above-mentioned game apparatus, it is difficult to create a deep interest in playing the game.
Embodiments of the present invention solve or reduce one or more of the above-mentioned problems. Embodiments of the present invention provide an article acquisition game apparatus which allows competition of article acquisition between the plurality of players, makes the replenishment of the articles by the salesperson unnecessary, and offers high game features in which the articles obtained as the premiums increase gradually according to the progress of the game by the plurality of players.